STS-88 Day 10 Highlights

Endeavour's astronauts awoke at 10:36 a.m. CST today, to the sounds
of Elvis Presley's "Hound Dog," and began preparing for the third and
final scheduled space walk of the mission.

This afternoon's spacewalk, set to begin about 3:06 p.m. CST, could
get under way earlier if Mission Specialists Jerry Ross and Jim Newman
are ahead of schedule in their space walk preparations. Today's
activities will be devoted mostly to tasks that ready the station for
future assembly work.

The crew's first job will be to release some cable ties on four
cables connected on an earlier space walk, three located on Unity's
upper mating adapter and one on its lower adapter, to relieve tension
on the lines. Flight controllers noted the cable tension from camera
views of the station, and they are concerned that leaving the cables
as they are would not allow enough play in them to accommodate
cyclical heating and cooling that occurs between orbital night and
day. The space walkers also will check an insulation cover on one
cable connection on the lower Pressurized Mating Adapter (PMA 2) to
make sure it is fully installed.

Ross and Newman then will attach a bag of tools - wrenches,
powergrip tools, ratchets and foot restraints - on the side of Unity's
upper mating adapter (PMA 1). Astronauts Tammy Jernigan and Dan Barry
will use these tools during their space walk next May during the
STS-96 assembly mission. Ross and Newman also will inspect bubbling
paint that has been noted on some of the Orbiter Space Vision System
targets on Unity.

Next, the space walkers will disconnect cables that the crew used
to operate the docking mechanism on Unity's s upper mating adapter
when Zarya was docked earlier in the mission. Also, Ross will use a
10-foot-long grappling hook to try to free the second of two jammed
antennas that are part of Zarya's backup rendezvous navigation system.
The first antenna was successfully deployed on a space walk Wednesday
by Newman using the same method. After the antenna deploy, Ross will
stow the grappling hook on the outside of Zarya, and he and Newman
will install a handrail at the far end of the module.

Near the end of the space walk, after packing up their tools , the
astronauts will do a detailed photographic survey of the space station
from top to bottom. Finally, each astronaut will test fire the
Simplified Aid for Extravehicular Activity Rescue (SAFER) jet
backpacks they are wearing, a type of space "lifejacket," that would
allow an astronaut to fly back to the station if they should ever
become untethered. During an earlier flight test on STS-86, a valve
failed and prevented the propulsion jets on the backpack from
firing. The valve was redesigned and extensively tested on the ground
and today in-flight test will assist in verifying the new designsted
on the ground and today's in-flight test will assist in verifying the
new design.

With the first steps in the orbital construction of the
International Space Station completed, Endeavour is planned to undock
from the new outpost at 2:25 p.m. CST on Sunday, leaving the 7-story,
35-ton complex to fly on its own for the next five months. Station
flight controllers will be able to monitor the health of the station
through an S-band communications system installed in Unity by the
astronauts.

Endeavour and the International Space Station are orbiting the Earth
at an altitude of 246 statute miles with all systems operating
normally.

Endeavour's astronauts completed the first assembly work of the
International Space Station on Saturday, securing tools, tethers and
cables to the new outpost and freeing a second jammed antenna on Zarya
during a 6-hour, 59-minute space walk.

The third and final space walk of the flight by astronauts Jerry
Ross and Jim Newman began at 2:33 p.m. Central time Saturday. Working
close to the timeline, Ross and Newman accomplished all of the tasks
planned for the excursion. The astronauts stowed a tool bag on the
U.S.-built Unity connecting module and disconnected umbilicals used to
drive the docking mechanisms that mated it with the Russian-built
Zarya control module last week. They also installed a handrail on
Zarya for use by future space walkers, and a made a detailed
photographic survey of the station for review by engineers over the
next several months.

Standing at the end of the shuttle's robot arm, Ross duplicated the
accomplishment of Newman last Wednesday, freeing a jammed backup
rendezvous system antenna on Zarya with a grappling hook. Ross found
the antenna to be a bit stubborn, but after tapping it and nudging it
several times, the antenna finally rolled out from its spool to the
fully deployed position.

Before returning to Endeavour's airlock, Ross and Newman also tested
out jet-powered backpacks they wore for use in the unlikely event they
could become untethered during station assembly work. The jet packs
seemed to use a bit more nitrogen gas than had been planned, but
flight controllers said the engineering objectives of the brief test
were met.

In all, Ross and Newman spent 21 hours and 22 minutes outside
Endeavour in the initial assembly of the station. Ross now has
completed seven space walks totaling 44 hours and 9 minutes, more than
any other American space walker. Newman moved into third place on the
all-time U.S. space-walking list, with a total of 28 hours and 27
minutes on four excursions.

After the space walk ended, Pilot Rick Sturckow depressurized the
vestibule between Endeavour's docking system and the docking adapter
at the base of Unity, setting the stage for today's undocking from the
International Space Station at 2:25 p.m. Central time.

Sturckow will be at the controls of Endeavour during undocking,
backing the shuttle away to a distance of 450 feet above the station
before beginning a nose-forward fly-around. One and a half revolutions
of the station are expected to provide ample time for the astronauts
to conduct a detailed photographic survey of the outpost. Sturckow
will fire Endeavour's jets at 3:52 p.m. to separate from the station,
leaving it to fly unpiloted for the next five months. The next visit
to the station will be by the STS-96 crew in May on an assembly and
resupply mission.

Endeavour's astronauts began an eight-hour sleep period at 2:36
a.m. and will awaken at 10:36 a.m. Central time to begin preparations
for undocking.

Endeavour and the station are orbiting at an altitude of 247
statute miles with all systems in excellent shape.